Bottle-stopper-supporting device

ABSTRACT

A bottle-stopper-supporting device includes a stopper-fitting head having a stopper inlet opening and a plunger mounted for vertical reciprocation in the head at the inner end of the inlet. One or more horizontally oriented magnets are arranged on the head and are cooperable with bottle stoppers entering the inlet. An air jet nozzle is oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into the inlet. In one embodiment, there is one horizontally oriented bar magnet and two vertically oriented bar magnets to support a bottle stopper containing magnetic material. In another embodiment, all of several magnets are horizontally oriented.

United States Patent 1 Inventors W; 2,501,291 3/1950 Rue 53/311 X Mmtoshl Suzuki, both of N g y J pan 1,350,405 8/1920 Gaynor... 53/343 X [21] Appl. No. 813,154 2,309,548 1/1943 Stover 53/343 X [22] Filed Apr. 3, 1969 2,030,188 2/1936 Smith 53/343 X [45] Patemed 1971 Fri Examiner'lheron E. Condon (73] Ass'gnee .m Kabushm M 14.2921 3! Examiner-l-lorace M. Culver 9 Priority p 10, 1968 Attorney-McGlew and Toren [33] Japan [31] 43/231133 [54] g 12; RTING DEVICE ABSTRACT: A bottle-stopper-supporting device includes a stopper-fitting head having a stopper inlet opening and a US. Cl. plunger mounted for vertical reciprocation in the head at the [5 1 1 ll"- inner end of the inlet one of more horizontally oriented mag- B67b 3/06 nets are arranged on the head and are cooperable with bottle (Search n toppers entering the inlet An air jet nozzle is oriented 343, 310, 312, 311 laterally to move bottle stoppers into the inlet. In one embodiment, there is one horizontally oriented bar magnet and two [56] Reemm CM vertically oriented bar magnets to support a bottle stopper UNITED STATES PATENTS containing magnetic material. 1n another embodiment, all of 2,883,818 4/1959 Gieskieng 53/343 several magnets are horizontally oriented.

PATENTEU M824 1971 SHEET 1 [11' 2 INVENTORS S4040 NOGl/GH/ MA 54 ray ll swu/r/ ATTORNEYS BO'I'ILE-STOPPER-SUPPOR'I'ING DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the art of positioning stoppers in bottles, it is known to use a bottle-stopper-supporting device which can support a bottle stopper containing magnetic material such as, for example, a cork having a top disc of magnetic material, a crown cap formed of a magnetic material, and the like. Each bottle stopper is supported by the supporting device just below a plunger for fitting the stopper into the opening of a bottle by making use of a magnetic field produced by permanent magnets on the supporting device.

However, bottle-stopper-supporting devices as hitherto used have an inherent disadvantage in that the stopper-fitting machine, including the bottle-stopper-supporting device, was inoperable to place a stopper on a short neck bottle due to the vertical orientation of bar magnets around the plunger, although it could operate for a long neck bottle. Furthermore, the bottle-stopper-supporting device did not reliably maintain the transverse position of the stopper during the stopperfitting operation, due to the fact that the magnetic poles of the permanent magnets were utilized only partially for producing a magnetic field effective to maintain the stopper in a predetermined position. This has been due to the fact, that with vertically oriented magnets, only one pole of each magnet is effective in establishing the magnetic field for maintaining the position of the bottle stopper.

Another disadvantage of prior art devices of this type is that the length of the permanent magnets could not be decreased below a predetermined value without weakening the magnetic field, which is vertically oriented. Consequently, it was impossible to fit a stopper to a short neck bottle, having extended shoulders, by means of the prior art devices. An additional disadvantage of prior art devices of this type is the inability thereof to operate at relatively high speeds.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to stopper-fitting machines for bottles and, more particularly, to an improved 'bottle-stopper-sup Y porting device in such a stopper-fitting machine and which can reliably support a bottle stopper while providing for the fitting machine to carry out efficiently the fitting operation with respect to either a short neck bottle or a long neck bottle.

In accordance with the invention, the disadvantages of the prior art are obviated by providing, in a supporting device of a stopper-fitting head, having a stopper-fitting plunger vertically reciprocable therein, at least one magnet which is horizontally oriented, and by further providing an air jet nozzle facing an inlet, in the head, through which a bottle stopper is moved into operative relation with the plunger.

In the bottle-stopper-supporting device embodying the invention, the lines of magnetic force produced by the horizontally oriented magnetextend horizontally across the central longitudinal bore and the inlet of the stopper-fitting head, so that the device can support a bottle stopper, containing magnetic material, and such as mentioned above, in a stable manner at the center of the central longitudinal bore of the fitting head and thus can reliably perform the stopper-fitting operation. An advantage is that all the magnetic poles of the magnets can be utilized effectively due to the fact that the magnets are horizontally oriented. Consequently, the number of magnets can be reduced. Due to the horizontal orientation of the magnets, it is possible to fit a stopper to a short neck bottle with extended shoulders by making the vertical dimension of the fitting head as small as possible.

In the bottle-stopper-supporting device embodying the invention, the bottle stopper can be supplied at a high speed through the inlet to the central longitudinal bore in the fitting head, by virtue of the fact that an air jet nozzle is mountedto direct an air jet to the inlet, and this greatly enhances the stopper-fitting capability of the machine. ln addition, due to the strong horizontally oriented magnetic field, the bottle stopper can be supported firmly within the central longitudinal bore in a stable manner and even if the bottle stopper is supplied at such a high speed.

In accordance with the invention, the bottle-stopper-supporting device has a stopper-fitting head on which are mounted a number of horizontally oriented magnets disposed in substantially the same horizontal plane, adjacent magnetic poles of these magnets being of opposite relative polarity. With this arrangement, the height ofthe section mounting the magnets can be made a minimum, due to the fact that such adjacent magnetic poles are of relative opposite polarity and that all the magnets are positioned in substantially the same horizontal plane. Thus it is possible to reliably fit a stopper even to a short neck thick bottle having extended shoulders.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, the air jet nozzle is disposed to direct an air jet substantially tangential to the locus of rotation of the stopper-fitting head and in the proximity of the entrance of the inlet. First and second magnets are rectilinearly aligned on the side of the fitting head opposite the aperture so that their adjacent magnetic poles are of the same polarity. Third and fourth magnets are disposed on opposite respective sides of the inlet and oriented obliquely, in a horizontal plane, relative to the first and second magnets while being in the same horizontal plane therewith. The third and fourth magnets are so positioned that each has one magnetic pole positioned near the inlet for the bottle stopper in such a manner that the other magnetic pole of the third magnet and the outer magnetic pole of the first magnet are of opposite relative polarity while the other magnetic pole of the fourth magnet and the outer magnetic pole of the second magnet are of the same polarity.

Thus, when the stopper-fitting head is rotated at a high speed in the direction of the air jet, a bottle stopper, blown at a high speed toward the inlet by means of an air jet nozzle disposed obliquely relative to the entrance of the inlet, is strongly attracted to one side of the entrance by the lines of magnetic force which arecurved toward the position of the air jet nozzle. Thereby, the bottle stopper is firmly supported at the center of the stopper-fitting head while the bottle stopper is spinning in one direction with respect to the direction of movement of the stopper-fitting head. Consequently, the bottle stopper can be supplied at a higher. speed and more reliably than in the case of-blowing the stopper toward the inlet from a direction perpendicular to the inlet. This enhances the stopper-fitting capability of the supporting device.

An object ofthe invention is to provide an improved bottlestopper-supporting device or a bottle-stopper-fitting machine.

have enlarged shoulders.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a supporting device which is capable of operation at much higher speeds than known bottle-stopper-supporting devices.

Still another object of the invention is to provide such a bottle-stopper-supporting.device including at least one horizontally oriented permanent magnet cooperable with bottle stoppers moving through an inlet in the fitting head to a central bore in which there is vertically reciprocable a plunger.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a bottlestopper-supporting device including an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into the inlet.

Another object of the invention is to provide such a bottlestopper-supporting device including plural permanent magnets which are horizontally oriented in substantially the same plane and have a predetermined polar relation to each other to facilitate entry of a bottle stopper into the inlet and movement thereof to a position aligned with the plunger.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a bottlestopper-supporting device in which the air jet is directed tangentially relative to the locus of rotation of the fitting head.

For an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference is made to the following description of typical embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bottle-stopper-supporting device, in a stopper-fitting machine, as shown from the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the supporting device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 but with a cork stopper replaced by a crown cap stopper;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of another form of prior art bottle-stopper-supporting device;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bottle-stopper-supporting device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal view corresponding to the plane VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a plan view corresponding to FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a further embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the arrangement shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line XI- XI of FIG. 10; and

FIG. 12 is a plan view of still another embodiment of the invention which is similar to the embodiment shown in FIGS. 9, 10 and 11 except that the polarities of the magnets are reversed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS For a better understanding of the present invention, it will be helpful to describe in some detail the structure of prior art bottle-stopper-supporting devices, used in stopper-fitting machines, and with reference to FIGS. 1 through 4.

Thus, in one type of bottle-stopper-supporting device, as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, an annular throat member 0 is provided at the bottom end of a cylindrical body b which may be freely reciprocated with respect to a bottle a. Within body b, there is mounted, for vertical reciprocation, a plunger e associated with a compression spring d, so that plunger e may be biased downwardly relative to annular member 0.

Surrounding the member c, beneath body b, there is provided a bottle stopper receiver f, which is formed with an inlet g for a bottle stopper. Within the receiver f there are mounted four bar magnets h,, k h and k These magnets are vertically oriented and disposed in such a manner that the polarities of the bar magnets h and h,,, on one side of the inlet g, are opposite to each other and the polarities of the bar magnets h and h, on the other side of inlet g are opposite to each other. Body b, annular member c and receiver f constitute a stopperfitting head.

Since the N-poles of magnets h and h on one side, and the S-poles of magnets h and h,,, on the other side, are in opposed relation to each other just below the annular member c, the lines of magnetic force are directed horizontally across a central bore i of receiver f. By virtue of the horizontally oriented magnetic field, a bottle stopper j, which may be a cork with a magnetic metal top disc, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, or a crown cap, as shown in FIG. 3, which is fed to central bore 1' through inlet 3, can be supported in a stable manner at the top center portion of the central bore i. Thus bottle stopper j can be reliably fitted to bottle a by the downward stroke of cylindrical body b. 7

However, in the case of the stopper-fitting machine illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, as magnets h h h aridh, are oriented vertically within the receiver, the distance L between the bottom plane of the throat member 0 and the lower end of the receiver f is substantial. Thus, in the case of a short neck thick bottle a, with extended shoulders, fitting of the stopper is impossible because the inner periphery of the lower end of receiver f would abut against the shoulder of thick bottle a before the fitting operation was possible.

In order to enable fitting of stoppers to short neck thick bottles a with extended shoulders, another type of stopper fitting machine was used in the prior art, as shown in Fig. 4. In this machine, a short cylinder k has a pair of bar magnets h and h: sealed therein with the north and southpoles of the respective magnets positioned opposite each other. This cylinder is joined to the lower end of the verticallyireciprocable plunger e. In this machine, since the attractive force of magnets h, and h; with respect to bottle stopper j is small, it is impossible to increase the rate of supply of the bottle stoppers, so that improvement of the stopper-fitting capability could not be obtained.

Referring now to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, a stopper-fitting head 1 having a stopper-fitting plunger 2 vertically reciprocable therein, is formed with a stopper inlet 3. An air jet nozzle 4 is arranged opposite inlet 3 so that a crown cap 5, for example, may be conveyed horizontally by the air jet from nozzle 4 into and through inlet 3 to the central bore 6 of head 1. 7

Within head 1, there is disposed a bar magnet 7 on that side of bore 6 diametrically opposite inlet 3 and also opposite the direction of air jet nozzle 4. Magnet 7 is horizontally oriented.

There are provided a pair of bar magnets 8 and 9 which are vertically oriented and which are positioned diametrically opposite each other substantially midway between magnets 7 and inlet 3. The lower ends of magnets 8 and 9 are at the same horizontal level as horizontally oriented magnets 7, and the magnets are so arranged that their lower ends have the same polarities as the respective magnetic poles of magnets 7 adjacent thereto.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the lines of magneticforce 10 are directed horizontally and transversely of the supply direction of crown cap 5 along the plane VI which contains the air jet nozzle 4 and horizontally oriented bar magnet 7. The lines of magnetic force are expanded on the side toward nozzle 4 due to the effect of magnet 7. Consequently, a crown cap 5 blown by air jet nozzle 4 along plane VI is strongly attracted to inlet 3 and takes a position just below the bottom plane of plunger 2 and at the center of bore 6, while retaining its horizontal orientation without being inverted, so that subsequent stopper-fitting operations may be carried out reliably.

In addition, since both magnetic poles of bar magnet 7 are utilized effectively to support crown cap 5, the number of bar magnets may be reduced without weakening the magnetic field. This is in contrast to the prior art arrangements as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, in which four bar magnets are required.

As an alternative to the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, bar magnets 7 may be modified to a horseshoe shape and the opposite poles of the horseshoe magnet may be positioned in the proximity of the lower ends of the vertically oriented magnets 8 and 9.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the bar magnets 7', 8' and 9' are horizontally oriented within the fitting head and disposed in such a manner that adjacent magnetic poles have opposite polarities. With this construction, the distance between the bottom plane of fitting head 1 and the bottom plane of plunger 2 can be made a minimum, so that even a short neck thick bottle a with extended shoulders can have a stopper fitted thereto.

FIGS. 9, l0 and 11 illustrate another embodiment of the invention in which a pair of bar magnets 11 and 12 are rectilinearly aligned in a horizontal orientation and extend transversely of direction of supply of the bottle stopper and on the opposite side of bore 6 from that side opening into inlet 3. Bar magnets 11 and 12 are directed horizontally in such a manner that their N-poles are positioned adjacent each other. In addition, a bar magnet 13 is disposed on one side of the inlet opening 3, within head. 1, with its N-pole directed toward inlet 3. Another magnet 14 is horizontally oriented on the other side of inlet 3 with its S-pole directed toward the inlet. In

this embodiment of the invention, the lines of magnetic force emanating from the N-pole of magnet 13 toward the S- pole of magnet 14 are curved so as to project obliquely to the right and downwardly as viewed in FIG. 10 due to the effect of the rectilinearly aligned horizontally oriented bar magnets 11 and 12.

In the embodiment of FIGS. 9, 10 and 11, when head 1 is revolved at a high speed in the X-direction shown in FIG. 10, a crown cap 5', blown at a high speed toward inlet 3 from air jet nozzle 4, which is located obliquely to the right with respect to the direction of opening of inlet 3, is strongly attracted to the right edge of inlet 3 as viewed from the center of head 1. This is due to the effect of lines of magnetic force 10', curved in an obliquely right and downward direction as viewed in FIG. 10, so the crown cap 5' moves, as it is spinning in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 10, and thus it can be firmly supported at the center of bore 6. Consequently, cap 5' can be supplied at a higher speed and more reliably than if it were blown in the direction of opening of inlet 3. The stopperfitting capability thus can be greatly enhanced.

Furthermore, in the same manner as with respect to the embodiment of FIGS. 7 and 8, as the distance L between the bottom plane of head 1 and the bottom plane of plunger 2 may be greatly shortened, the stopper-fitting head can fit a bottle stopper to a short neck thick bottle a with extended shoulders.

In a modification of the embodiment of FIGS. 9, l0 and 11, and as shown in FIG. 12, the polarities of all of the magnets 11, l2, l3 and 14 are reversed. It will be understood that this embodiment functions in the same manner as that illustrated in FIGS. 9, l0 and 11.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device including a stopperfitting head having a bottle stopper inlet opening laterally thereinto, and a plunger mounted for reciprocation in the head at the inner end of said inlet, the improvement comprising, in combination, an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into said inlet; a single horizontally oriented magnet extending transversely of the inner end of said inlet; and a pair of vertically oriented magnets positioned adjacent opposite sides of said inlet and in spaced relation to said horizontally oriented magnet and extending upwardly relative to said horizontally oriented magnet, said magnets being cooperable with bottle stoppers entering said inlet.

2. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device including a stopperfitting head having a bottle stopper inlet opening laterally thereinto, and a plunger mounted for reciprocation in the head at the inner end of said inlet, the improvement comprising, in combination, an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into said inlet; and a plurality of horizontally oriented magnets on said head, adjacent poles of said magnets being of respective opposite polarities, said magnets being cooperable with bottle stoppers entering said inlet.

3. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device including a stopperfitting head having a bottle stopper inlet opening laterally thereinto, and a plunger mounted for reciprocation in the head at the inner end of said inlet, the improvement comprising, in combination, at least one horizontally oriented magnet on said head cooperable with bottle stoppers entering said inlet; and an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into said inlet; said head being revolved in a circular locus; the air jet from said nozzle being directed tangentially of said locus.

4. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the lower ends of said vertically oriented magnets have the same respective polarities as the adjacent ends of said horizontally oriented magnet.

5. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which there are three horizontally oriented magnets including a first magnet extending transversely of said inlet in spaced relation to the closed end thereof; and a pair of second magnets each adjacent one side of said inlet and extending obliquely relative to said inlet, said second magnets being positioned between sa1d first magnet and the opening of said inlet.

6. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 3, including a pair of first horizontally oriented magnets rectilinearly aligned with each other adjacent the inner end of said inlet, in spaced relation to said inlet and extending transversely of the direction of said inlet, corresponding poles of said magnets being adjacent each other; and a pair of second horizontally oriented magnets each adjacent a respective side of said inlet between said first magnets and the opening of said inlet, said second magnets being directed obliquely toward said inlet with their directions converging to the opening of said inlet.

7. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 6, in which, said second magnets include a third magnet, leading in the direction of movement of said head, and a fourth magnet; the polarity of the end of said third magnet further from said inlet being opposite to the polarity of the end of the first magnet nearer thereto; the polarity of the end of the fourth magnet further from the inlet being the same as the polarity of the first magnet nearer thereto. 

1. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device including a stopperfitting head having a bottle stopper inlet opening laterally thereinto, and a plunger mounted for reciprocation in the head at the inner end of said inlet, the improvement comprising, in combination, an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into said inlet; a single horizontally oriented magnet extending transversely of the inner end of said inlet; and a pair of vertically oriented magnets positioned adjacent opposite sides of said inlet and in spaced relation to said horizontally oriented magnet and extending upwardly relative to said horizontally oriented magnet, said magnets being cooperable with bottle stoppers entering said inlet.
 2. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device including a stopper-fitting head having a bottle stopper inlet opening laterally thereinto, and a plunger mounted for reciprocation in the head at the inner end of said inlet, the improvement comprising, in combination, an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into said inlet; and a plurality of horizontally oriented magnets on said head, adjacent poles of said magnets being of respective opposite polarities, said magnets being cooperable with bottle stoppers entering said inlet.
 3. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device including a stopper-fitting head having a bottle stopper inlet opening laterally thereinto, and a plunger mounted for reciprocation in the head at the inner end of said inlet, the improvement comprising, in combination, at least one horizontally oriented magnet on said head cooperable with bottle stoppers entering said inlet; and an air jet nozzle oriented laterally to move bottle stoppers into said inlet; said head being revolved in a circular locus; the air jet from said nozzle being directed tangentially of said locus.
 4. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 1, in which the lower ends of said vertically oriented magnets have the same respective polarities as the adjacent ends of said horizontally oriented magnet.
 5. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 2, in which there are three horizontally oriented magnets including a first magnet extending transversely of said inlet in spaced relation to the closed end thereof; and a pair of second magnets each adjacent one side of said inlet and extending obliquely relative to said inlet, said second magnets being positioned between said first magnet and the opening of said inlet.
 6. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 3, including a pair of first horizontally oriented magnets rectilinearly aligned with each other adjacent the inner end of said inlet, in spaced relation to said inlet and extending transversely of the direction of said inlet, corresponding poles of said magnets being adjacent each other; and a pair of second horizontally oriented magnets each adjacent a respective side of said inlet between said first magnets and the opening of said inlet, said second magnets being directed obliquely toward said inlet with their directions converging to the opening of said inlet.
 7. In a bottle-stopper-supporting device, the improvement claimed in claim 6, in which said second magnets include a third magnet, leading in the direction of movement of said head, and a fourth magnet; the polarity of the end of said third magnet further from said inlet being opposite to the polarity of the end of the first magnet nearer thereto; the polarity of the end of the fourth magnet further from the inlet being the same as the polarity of the first magnet nearer thereto. 